Tony Award Winner Elizabeth Wilson Has Died

By: May. 10, 2015
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The Broadway community has lost another one of their own.

Elizabeth Wilson, famous for roles in the Broadway productions of THREEPENNY OPERA, YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, and STICKS AND BONES (for which she won a Tony Award), died on Saturday in her home in New Haven, Connecticut. She was 94.

Wilson was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the daughter of Marie Ethel (née Welter) and Henry Dunning Wilson, who was an insurance agent. Wilson attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, then studied with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse. She made her Broadway debut in Picnic in 1953. Her stage credits include Desk Set, The Good Woman of Szechuan, Sticks and Bones, Uncle Vanya, Threepenny Opera, The Importance of Being Earnest, Morning's at Seven, You Can't Take It with You, Ah, Wilderness!, and A Delicate Balance.

Wilson made her screen debut reprising her stage role in the 1955 film adaptation of Picnic. Additional credits include The Goddess, A Child Is Waiting, The Birds, The Graduate, Catch-22, Little Murders, The Day of the Dolphin, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, Nine to Five, Grace Quigley, Regarding Henry, The Tunnel of Love, Nora's Christmas Gift (made by Bonneville Productions and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), The Addams Family, and Quiz Show. She portrayed Franklin Roosevelt's mother, Sara Ann Delano Roosevelt, in Hyde Park on Hudson (2012).

Wilson's television credits include such early anthology series as Kraft Television Theatre, The United States Steel Hour, and Armstrong Circle Theatre. She was a regular on the primetime drama East Side/West Side and sitcom Doc and has appeared in Dark Shadows, Another World, All in the Family, Murder, She Wrote, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.


Awards
1972 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play - Sticks and Bones
1980 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance - Morning's at Seven
Nominations
1957 BAFTA Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer - Patterns
1976 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical - Threepenny Opera
1985 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play - Salonika
1987 Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Special - Nutcracker: Money, Madness & Murder



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